Today’s big shake-up in the Sprint ad agency roster will prompt plenty of fallout over the next several months. But sources today confirmed one of the shops to be hit hard by the changes will be Euro RSCG/Chicago, which is losing all of its below-the-line Sprint business. The loss is a huge blow for the shop, which has worked on the business since 2002.
Sprint was one of, if not the most, lucrative accounts on Euro’s roster, which now also includes Cracker Barrel and Reynold’s business. Some of the new accounts Euro RSCG has won this year will help replace part of the revenue to be lost from the Sprint account, but probably not all of it.
Digitas is taking over the large majority of the Sprint account with a new dedicated shop to be called Team Sprint. That will be headed by Digitas honcho Tony Weisman, who had been a top lieutenant at DraftFCB/Chicago before moving to Digitas.
Weisman, in fact, was instrumental in DraftFCB’s pitch for the Walmart account, which was quickly yanked from Draft after questions arose about the way the pitch was handled.
The Leo Burnett network will apparently be involved, in some capacity, in servicing the Sprint account along with Digitas, which will be the lead agency. Both shops are part of the Publicis Group.
Contact Lewis Lazare at: LewisL3@aol.com
